How are response times calculated?

On your dashboard, the average response time is calculated by
counting the time between a user's comment and a supporter's
comment. Because we are talking about averages, outliers in a day
can skew the average quite a bit.

Be aware that the calculation on your dashboard is different
from the one you will see on the Reporting page. The dashboard
calculates the time based on every time a user comment is waiting
for a response. In the Reporting pages and on the CSV export for
Reporting, the calculation is performed ONLY on initial response
time (the first response to a new discussion). If you see a
difference between the initial response time and the dashboard's
reported average response time, it is because the dashboard
includes responses after the initial one.

If on the dashboard, for example, you just responded to 9 issues
that came in this morning around 1 hour after receiving them, the
average would be about 1 hour. Then, in the afternoon, you respond
to a discussion that's gone 7 days without a response. Calculating
the average means that the average response time is now over 17
hours (your 10th response is over 168 hours later). Our calculation
is simply a guide, and if you want to have more detail, you can use
our CSV export and weight your averages as you feel
appropriate.

What about evil spam?

When you mark something as spam, it excludes that discussion
from dashboard calculations. Marking spam that was previously just
closed after a long wait can drive back down the average response
time. Leaving spam open, or simply closing a lingering spam message
rather than marking it as spam, will almost inevitably increase
this average calculation.